100 days since the COP26 climate change conference: Has anything really changed?
James Webster
Correspondent, ITV Regional News
100 days have now passed since the world's leaders gathered in Glasgow for the COP26 Climate Change Conference. As part of the team from ITV News reporting from the talks, you could feel the expectation at the talks, the hope for a deal that made a real difference.
The sheer variety of accents and languages you would overhear as you walked around the venue was the best illustration of how many countries were represented there. And throughout the two weeks of talks, it felt like the world's climate was a real talking point, not just on TV and radio but more generally too.
Two weeks of difficult negotiations, perhaps inevitable, ran over time but a deal was done. Some, but not all countries agreed to reduce their use of coal power. Deforestation would be stopped and in some cases reversed. More new vehicles would be zero emissions. But conservationists say the conference missed other issues like international aviation and the impact of the food we eat. The UK government has also been criticised for not halting controversial plans for a new coal mine in Cumbria and the expansion of Bristol Airport.
So what was it all for? Since COP26 there has been much less focus on environmental issues. Has it lost momentum?
Alok Sharma MP remains the President of COP26 for most of 2022 and has been touring parts of Asia for further talks with countries about climate change.
During his visit to Indonesia I asked him what further work he has been doing on the commitments promised at COP26 since the conference ended.
"At this stage these are words on a page," Mr Sharma said.
"There are commitments that have been made by countries, some of which have to be delivered by the end of this year, others that are to be delivered in years forward.
"That is what this period is all about, pushing forward on delivery, ensuring that the commitments that have been made are turned into real action."
The independent Climate Change Committee, which scrutinises the government's policies, published its review of COP26 in December. It feels the UK still hasn't put enough changes in place to deliver on its net-zero targets at a time it should be leading by example while it still holds the COP presidency.
There are some climate change campaigners, such as Ben Margolis from the Climate Change Coalition, who feel that there needed to be more policies from the government to enable people to make changes to benefit the environment: "People want to switch to electric vehicles, they want to switch to sustainable forms of transport, they want to install double glazing and insulation and heat pumps. The problem is that there's just not the incentives or the money there to allow people to do so, so I think that's what people are expecting from the government now."
In response Alok Sharma told me: "In terms of policies we put forward before COP, a net-zero strategy where we set out how we were going to get to net-zero by 2050, which is enshrined in law, and as part of that it's really important to recognise that of course this is about cutting emissions, is about having a healthier environment for everyone in the UK and across the world but it's also about growing the economy.
"I think the public is on board. But of course, what we need to be doing is explaining perhaps even further the benefits of getting to net zero and what we need to do as a government is to demonstrate that actually net zero is very good news for the environment. It's good news for the future but it's also good news for the economy. In the end of the day, this is about driving green growth."
So what do we learn from Alok Sharma's update, marking 100 days since the end of COP26? It feels very much as though his focus, perhaps unsurprisingly, is international right now. The UK retains the presidency of COP until world leaders gather again for COP27 in Egypt later this year. In that role it's perhaps not surprising that we have seen little of Alok Sharma domestically as he travels the world seeking to make further progress internationally on what is, after all, a global issue.
The fact that when I asked him about further domestic policy, he simply reiterated the progress the UK has already made and the policies previously announced last autumn suggests that for now at least there is no more policy and no more money to pay for the sorts of policies the Climate Change Coalition is suggesting.
And that is not going to cut it with the climate change experts who have analysed the small print of the agreements made at COP26. Those scientists are clear that even if everything at COP26 is delivered, it still does not go far enough to limit climate change to 1.5C. These are the same scientists who also point out that while the UK may have some world leading targets for 2030 and 2050, the policies announced so far do not seem to demonstrate how those targets will be delivered.
Some analysts have suggested that while COP26 "opened the door" to limiting climate change to 1.5C, the world did not get through the door. It remains a possibility but more steps need to be taken and 100 days on it still feels like the world is not yet through that door.
The blog song for today is: " Our house" by Madness
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